This short piece is a partial answer to the question posed. It addresses the ‘who’ but not the ‘why’.
The following chart uses Census data from Statistics NZ and benefit data from MSD. Both sets are from March 2023.
At that time there were 345,417 individuals reliant on a main benefit which primarily comprised Jobseeker (formerly Unemployment and Sickness benefits), Supported Living Payment (formerly Invalid benefit) and Sole Parent Support (formerly DPB). By April 2025 the total had risen to 399,792.
Chinese people had the lowest dependency rate at 2.4 percent. The highest rate is for Māori at 23 percent. Each of the Asian rates is very low, as is the Latin American. The Pacific rates are middling to high, headed by Cook Island Māori at 19.8 percent.
Another way to answer the question is that 1 in 40 Chinese receive a main benefit versus 1 in 5 Cook Island Māori.
Limitations
In deriving the dependency percentage, the chart uses the 15–64-year-old population as the denominator (18–64-year-old data was not readily available.) The benefit data however applies to 18–64-year-olds. The denominator is therefore larger than it should be meaning that the percentages are somewhat understated.
Because the Pacific and Māori populations are relatively young, the denominator distortion will be greater. For instance, the median age for Māori is 26.8 whereas the median age for Chinese is 36.2. Therefore, the derived percentages for younger populations are more understated than those for the older populations. The younger populations have proportionately higher numbers in the 15,16- and 17-year-old age-band.
With both sets of data “people can identify with more than one ethnic group, and are counted for each ethnic group they identify with.”
Sources
